About the series: ‘La pérdida - The loss’: Deadly disaster at El Paso, Juárez border

El Paso Times
·2 min read
Randy Eiland walks past water bottles left by migrants who crossed near his home during his morning walk. Randy Eiland and his wife Carol encountered a dead migrant just a few hundred yards from their rural home in New Mexico in 2023.

ABOUT THE SERIES

The El Paso Times embarked on this series in March 2023 after a deadly detention center fire in Juárez, Mexico, killed 40 migrants from half a dozen countries. We wanted to know: Who were the people who died? It’s the same question we asked after the Aug. 3, 2019, racist massacre at an El Paso Walmart, and we believed the migrants who died deserved the same recognition. Tragically, the fire presaged a record year for migrant deaths in the region, and we decided the story merited ongoing investigation.

El Paso Times journalists Lauren Villagran and Omar Ornelas spent more than a year documenting deaths in the El Paso-Juárez migration corridor. They reported from New Mexico, Texas, Mexico and Guatemala. They followed Border Patrol, first responders and medical investigators into the desert on both sides of the border, documenting their difficult work and the discovery of unidentified remains. They spent weeks following the terrible losses experienced by migrant mothers and fathers in Juárez and El Paso shelters. They traveled to Guatemala to visit with the parents of three men lost in the Juárez fire.

The Times partnered with Arizona Republic journalists Rafael Carranza and Daniel Gonzalez and with Juárez-based freelance correspondent Aline Simerman to track the growing problem in Mexico and report on lessons learned in Arizona. USA TODAY provided editorial support.

Reporters conducted interviews in English and Spanish; where interviews were conducted in K’iche through an interpreter, it is noted in the text. Select stories in the series will be made available in English and Spanish.

First report in series: 'Where is the humanity?' Migrant deaths soaring at El Paso-Juárez border with few ways to document them

THE TEAM BEHIND THIS INVESTIGATION

  • Reporting and research: Lauren Villagran, Omar Ornelas, Aline Simerman, Rafael Carranza, Daniel Gonzalez

  • Editing: Tim Archuleta, Ray Rivera, Amy Pyle

  • Copy editing: Melissa Galbraith

  • Photography: Omar Ornelas, Gaby Velasquez, Ivan Pierre-Aguirre, Samuel Gaytan

  • Video: Omar Ornelas, Lauren Villagran, Aline Simerman, Christian Torres Chavez, Antonio Chox

  • Video producer: Alicia Fernandez, Omar Ornelas

  • Graphics and illustrations: Mason Callejas

  • Digital production and development: Mason Callejas, Aaron Bedoya

  • Social media and engagement: Aaron Bedoya

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: About series: ‘La pérdida - The loss’: Deadly disaster at border